The build-up of residential areas around creeks and rivers has led to trees and vegetation being replaced with impervious surfaces, such as concrete drives and roofs. This has resulted in water from rain, snow melt, or other sources flowing quickly over the landscape as opposed to being absorbed by soil and vegetation. Such excess water flow is known as “runoff”. “Runoff” has environmental consequences for creeks and rivers such as changing stream flows, causing flooding and erosion of river banks, as well as washing pollutants from urban areas into the rivers and creeks.
“Runoff” is particularly prevalent during and after storms, where the high volume and rate of stormwater wreaks havoc on the local environment. In an attempt to manage stormwater “runoff”, stormwater infrastructure may be installed in urban areas. Such stormwater infrastructure is designed based on estimated likely peak flows using nominated risk models and incorporates standard safety margins. Consequently, a significant proportion of infrastructure costs are attributable to events that rarely occur. As a city grows, so too do the impervious surfaces, and as a result, these peak flows increase. Accordingly, greater loads are placed on stormwater infrastructure, and in the worst cases, overwhelm the stormwater infrastructure, which may not have been designed with such increased peak flows in mind in the first place.
It is therefore desired to address or ameliorate one or more shortcomings of prior systems and methods, or to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.
Throughout this specification the word “comprise”, or variations such as “comprises” or “comprising”, will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present disclosure as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.